


Why...Why Not Me...

by Lokkish



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Car Accidents, Established Dadvid, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-23 22:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11999340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokkish/pseuds/Lokkish
Summary: Trucks, Cliffs, and Rain. Three car crashes that will scar these kids for life and make them wish that they never made it out alive.





	1. Max: Red Means Stop!

**Author's Note:**

> Some kids hit a tree in my front yard and I’m trying to cope with that horrible scene. One lived and the other two died. This is mainly a therapy session for me so please Don’t Read this if you don’t like to read about people dieing or gratuitous amounts of blood. 
> 
> Otherwise, Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.

“Ah smell that fresh air, nothing better than getting out of the state sanctioned prison for minors am I right Nikki?” Max sighed as he walked out of the high school he attended with Nikki and Neil. Nikki laughed as she followed Max out and Neil just rolled his eyes and smiled.

“You got that right Max, it’s beautiful out.” She exclaimed holding her arms out embracing the good weather. “Let’s go to the lake. We can go swimming!” 

“Uhg, Nikki, I didn’t bring my bathing suit, let’s do that tomorrow.” Neil huffed obviously not joining in on her excitement about the weather being 95 degrees fahrenheit. “Besides, it’s so hot and sunny out my skin can’t take it. Why don’t we just go to the mall like we usually do or something.”

Nikki tsked at him, “Neil you’re being dramatic, but fine let’s go to the waterfall instead, there won't be anyone there and we can go skinny dipping.” Nikki said winking at Neil as she walked up to him seductively. “That way we don’t need to worry about getting our clothes wet and I get to see my favorite boys naked.” Nikki teased Neil making him blush crimson and making Max laugh. 

“Knock it off Nikki,” Neil said when she got too close for comfort. Nikki, Neil and Max were in a relationship that they started early this year. They figured they should at least try it out after they had been dancing around each other for so long. As Nikki figured, and Max and Neil agreed, it was their senior year if it worked out then it worked out, if it didn’t it didn’t. 

“Yeah Nikki, knock it off,” Max said smiling. “You know how easily flustered Neil get’s when we tease him at school, let’s wait til we’re naked at the waterfall to start on each other.” Max laughed as Neil’s blush intensified and grabbed his hand as they continued to walk towards Max’s car. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Nikki giggled as she grabbed Neil's other hand. “Let’s go, please Neil, it will be fun.” 

“Fine fine,” Neil consented. “You two are incorrigible.” He muttered shaking his head but following his friends to the car. When they reached it Max got in the driver's seat and waited for everyone to buckle up as he started the car and pulled away from school. 

The drive was comforting as the three friends talked and joked. Nikki was cycling through the radio stations, as ‘that’s what people are supposed to do when in the passenger seat,’ trying to find something that the three of them liked. While Neil argued why one song was better than another while simultaneously telling Nikki to just pick one already as he huffed in the seat behind her not amused with Nikki’s antics, especially if she landed on a song he actually liked. Max just laughed the whole way, antagonizing Neil by saying he didn’t like a song that he knew Neil did. It was always so cute to see Neil get frustrated, but the boy knew that he was loved. When they all got to the waterfall they would be sure to show Neil how much he was appreciated even if they ribbed him constantly.

As Max approached an intersection he slowed down for a red light, but it changed green as soon as he was getting closer so he sped up again. While him and his friends talked he didn’t notice that while he now had the green light someone else at the intersection didn’t register that they now had the red light. 

The crash that followed wasn’t all that memorable to Max. He was told that the man behind the Ford truck was sleep deprived and going 75 mph through the intersection, that his car was hit on the passenger side, and that he was lucky to be alive. Funny that because Max didn’t feel so lucky. What he did remember was being in pain and looking around trying to find Nikki and Neil through the haze to see what had happened. 

“Nikki? Neil?” Max called trying to get his friends attention. Max looked over towards were Nikki was and was happy to see that she was there. “Nikki, love, are you alright?” Max questioned in a daze. He reached out to brush Nikki’s hair away from her face as it was obscuring his view, as he did Max couldn’t register what he saw fast enough. There was some red stuff on her face so as he reached up to wipe it away and that’s when his brain finally decided to catch up. 

He started to freak out. 

“Nikki? Nikki!” There was blood everywhere. The right side of her face was almost unrecognizable as it was mangled and covered in red sticky blood. Looking her over Max noticed that she looked to be in an unnatural position with her arm squished into her chest and Max was afraid she didn’t even have her legs anymore due to the twisted metal that wrapped around her torso. “No, No, No.” Max cried trying to understand what was going on, this couldn’t be real. He searched frantically for his seat belt to try and escape the confines of this hell and to actually help his friends, not noticing that this hands kept slipping from the blood that covered them.

“Neil,” Max called out trying to twist and face his other lover, but was unable to due to being stuck in his own seat and every time he twisted his spine seemed to engulf itself in pain. “Neil please!” Max cried as he changed tactics and thrust his right hand towards the back seat searching for his boyfriend. “Neil, Neil please answer me. Please, I think- Oh god I think Nikki’s dead Neil. Please be alright, please don’t leave me too.” Max cried trying in vain to search for his friend with his hand and voice alone. 

“Hello? Sir are you ok?” Max heard a voice to his left and looked quickly to see who was talking to him. It was some older woman who looked shocked at the scene in front of her. “Oh no. Oh dear. Hey sweetheart can you hear me?” She asked kindly obviously trying to ease the panic that must be clear on Max’s face.

“My friends, my friends, I think my friends are dead.” Max cried out unable to keep his cool in the face of this obvious tragedy. “Please, in back, please ma’am I can’t see. Is he dead?” Max begged. Hoping, wishing that what he knew to be true wasn’t so. 

The kind old lady looked towards where he was talking about and Max didn’t need her to answer, her face said it all. Her eyes went wide and then drooped in obvious dismay and Max screamed. He couldn’t help it, his whole world, the two loves of his life were dead. They were taken away from him and Max honestly had no idea what to do about it. So he desperately tried to unbuckle himself once more, maybe there was something he could do, anything. Still being unsuccessful in his endeavor he eventually reduced himself to bashing his steering wheel in front of him in frustration.

“They’re dead. I can’t believe they’re dead.” Max cried out. 

“Young man?” The old lady called softly. Max had forgotten she was there and whipped his head towards her. He must have been a sight. Tears streamed down his face and blood covered him from head to toe. He was dazed and he was confused and to top it all off he lost the two most important people of his life.

“This isn’t how this is supposed to go.” Max cried to the complete stranger. “They aren’t supposed to die first. They can’t die first.” Max wailed gripping his head in anguish. “I’m supposed to die first not them. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?” 

Max startled slightly when he felt a hand settle on his head lightly. “You’ll live my dear. You’ll go on living. I’m sure that’s what they would want you to do.” Max looked at the old woman in wonder. “I know it hurts now, and it might never get better, but you have to find a way to live on. I’m sure that’s what your friends would want.” The old woman finished kindly.

Max’s face must have twisted in something maniacal as he slowly smiled because the woman looked concerned. “What the fuck do you know. You don’t know me, you didn’t know them. They were my entire world.” Max sneered as he looked away back towards Nikki. He lifted his hand once more to move her hair from her face and noticed that her head was at an odd angle. 

Max smiled wistfully. “They knew me. They knew if something like this was to happen I wouldn’t get through it so easily. They knew I would follow if they ever left me.” Max lamented softly as he looked at Nikki smiling sadly. “I’m sure they would be surprised if I made it to the end of the year.”

He wished he could kiss Nikki one more time, he wished he could just fucking see Neil once more. But wishing was fruitless right now, because above all else he wished that life wasn’t so cruel as to make him live while his lovers died. Overcome with grief Max started laughing hysterically, he was alive and the only ones worth living for were dead.


	2. Nikki: Always Pay Attention to the Road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably should explain that each Chapter is from a different POV. The first chapter was Max, the second is Nikki and the Third is going to be Neil's.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

“So where to now?” Nikki asked her boys. They had just left a roller skating rink, Nikki’s idea, and the night was still young. She wanted to go somewhere new, exciting, fun.

Her boy's on the other hand looked like they were about ready to pass out. Nikki ran them ragged at the rink and for two people who’s idea of working out was to walk a mile to grab food at a local restaurant, rollerblading for 6 hours straight was exhausting.

“God I don't know Nikki, what movie is out? I think I can go for that.” Max yawned from the back seat. He was about to fall asleep and being in a nice cool dark movie theater right about now sounded great.

“Aww common Max don't be a spoil sport, am I right Neil?” Nikki laughed as she reached over and playfuly punched Neil who was in the passenger seat. 

“Who- Wha-?” Neil asked startled awake as he was quietly sleeping before Nikki had elbowed him. “Yeah, whatever you say Nikki.” Neil yawned and stretched before turning over and falling back to finish his nap.

“Aww, what? Are you sleeping Neil?” Nikki asked startled, obviously not thinking her boyfriend would be sleeping so quickly after entering the car, they had literally left the skating rink not 5 minutes ago. “Common, let's go do something exciting! Like, like, sasquatch hunting or lets climb Mount -!”

“No! No, Nikki, we are not about to go climbing any mountains.” Max called his head flung back in exasperation. “I would rather go home and listen to one of David’s almanac tapes than to go and do more exercise. Can’t we just go and relax somewhere? The lake is close, lets just go hang out there for a bit.” Max explained trying for a compromise.

“Psh, you two are being spoil sports,” Nikki grumbled from her front seat. Max just hummed in response. “Fine,” Nikki said with a yawn, “the lake it is. Jerks you’re making me tired with all the exhaustion you’re giving off. Wake up.” Nikki exclaimed lightly punching Neil’s arm arm again to try and keep him awake. Neil just grumbled and moved out of the way.

“Nikki, don’t hit Neil,” Max mumbled as he tried not to nod off himself.

“HA!” Nikki exclaimed jubilantly, “You must be really tired Max, defending you’re poor helpless boyfriend from your big mean girlfriend. You only get this soft when you’re too tired to check yourself.” Nikki laughed as she watched Max from the rear view, showing her a clear picture of Max flipping her off.

“Yeah, yeah, fuck you Nikki,” Max grumbled. “This is all your fault. What on earth made you think having a skating marathon for the last 8 hours was a good idea? I’m exhausted.” Max scolded as he made himself more comfortable in the back seat.

“First off it was only 6 hours Max.” Nikki pointed out with an air of aggravation. “We had to cut our marathon short lets not forget, so we didn’t do the whole 8 hours. And second, I didn’t hear any complaints until hour 5 in which you both started becoming lazy babies.” Nikki scoffed. “You two could have taken breaks. It’s not like you needed to keep up with me the whole time.” 

Max sighed, “We wanted to though, you insensitive jerk. It’s supposed to be date night, not watch your girlfriend skate circles around you while you and your boyfriend sit out night. We-” Max let out a large yawn, “We wanted to hang out with you thus we had to skate too. It’s not like we knew you were trying out for the roller derby or something.” 

Nikki couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at her boyfriend’s words while also trying desperately to stifle a yawn of her own. “Aww Max, it’s so cute how sappy you get when you’re tired.” Nikki sighed over dramatically with a giggle .

“Yeah?” Max asked dismissively. Nikki noticed that he had his eyes closed and seemed to be ready for sleep. Nikki was annoyed that her boyfriend's were obviously settling in for a nap. Driving was so boring. She much preferred to talk while driving or playing her music really loud. Neither of which were viable options with people sleeping in her car. 

“Max~ Common, don’t fall asleep. You know I prefer having a driving buddy.” Nikki whined as Max let out another yawn, making her yawn in return. Damn, why where yawns so contagious? 

“I know,” Max sighed. “I’m sorry. Love you.” Max mumbled the end in a way that Nikki almost didn’t catch. He had fallen asleep, making Nikki sigh.

“Yeah, yeah love you idiots too.” Nikki droned mad that her lovers had left her, not only tired, but also to drive alone. It was only a 15 minute drive to the lake, but still it was the principle of the situation. 

It wasn’t long before Nikki started thinking of just pulling over and taking a quick nap herself. She was shaking her head to try and stay awake and constantly yawning. This was a recipe for disaster especially seeing as she was on a mountain pass and the cliff to her right looked menacing. This was not a good way to be driving and knowing that there were only more cliffs to drive near coming up before the turn to the lake it would be best for her to take a small break. Rounding a bend she convinced herself that she would pull over as soon as the shoulder opened up again only for something to zoom out of the woods and into her car. 

She let out a shriek now wide awake. The whole situation was over faster than her mind had time to process exactly what had happened. One moment she was driving, then she had hit something, and now she was careening of the edge of the cliff. It wasn’t until later that she concluded that her fight or flight response must have kicked in and her jerk of the wheel along with her foot instinctively slamming the gas was much more devastating than one would ever hope. 

The fall from the road was terrifying, Nikki probably would never forget the feeling of her stomach in her throat or the terrified scream she let out as she saw the road she was on disappear from view. They tumbled down the cliffside length wise and Nikki had no idea when, but she must have passed out somewhere along the ride. 

When she came too she heard muffled yelling and sirens going. She groaned noticing that she had a splitting headache. It was only after she noticed that she couldn’t feel her hands or legs that she then she noticed that she was upsidedown. Groaning Nikki tried to get her bearings. 

“Ugh. Neil? Max?” Nikki called out knowing her boys had to be close. She would never be in such an odd situation without them having something to do with it. “What kinda kinky sex did we have last night?” Nikki asked with a small chuckle. She still had no idea as to what was going on. It was dark out and it was hard to tell what was what with the lack of light and her head spinning. 

Slowly her eyes adjusted to the scene that surrounded and horrified her. She were in a car, glass and metal surrounded her in shredded pieces, and there was a deer with a massive rack staring at her with dead milky eyes. 

Nikki let out a shriek and fumbled for her seat belt. Soon she was landing heavily on her back. With a small ‘omf’ she scrambled to get out of the car as fast as her arms and legs would allow. Nikki screams continued as she backed herself into a tree. Only stopping when she registered that the screams were coming from herself and not some disembodied voice miles away. 

Now that she was out of the wreck and far away from the dead eyes of the deer that were only inches from her face could she more effectively assess the situation. Nothing looked good. The car was a wreak, it was barely even recognizable and covered in blood. Nikki looked herself over and was surprised that she seemed relatively ok. She surmised that a lot of the blood had to of come from the unfortunate deer that she had hit from nodding off a bit.

Nikki gave a relieved chuckle as she remembered a statistic Neil rattled off one day. Something about people who crashed from falling asleep behind the wheel had a larger likeliness of surviving. Somehow due to their body going limp from sleep it helped them to more easily avoid injuries that were sustained through the body tensing before and during a crash. Nikki looked up at the cliff she had fallen from and laughed nervously and give a small whistle. 

“Well I guess Neil was partially right,” Nikki commented as she slowly stood on weak legs. She was shaky from the ordeal but wanted to investigate. Looking back up the cliff she heard the muffled yelling that woke her and saw lights flashing back and forth. They must be looking for her, thankfully the rail must have been evidence enough that someone might have fallen and someone must be investigating.

“HEY!” Nikki called up, it looked like from where she was to where they were it was about a 50 foot drop. That wasn’t too bad. The waterfall her and Max liked to jump from was a bit higher than that. “Hey down here!” She called to them again. “Help!” 

She noticed that the lights that were once lazily searching zeroed in on her and she waved up to the people. There seemed to some commotion before she heard a megaphone turn on. “Young lady, we see you and we are on our way. Please remain calm and stay where you are. We will be there shortly.”

Nikki just held a thumbs up to the guy with the megaphone to show that she heard him. 

“Thank you for your cooperation.” They guy replied. There seemed to be some more kerfuffle before the guy got back on the megaphone. “Young lady, please give a thumbs up if you feel you have not sustained any major injuries, or give a thumbs down if you think you need immediate emergency attention.” 

Nikki gave the man a thumbs up, she felt fine.

“Very good. Please give a thumbs up if there was anyone else in the vehicle with you or give a thumbs down if there was not.” They guy called again.

Nikki got ready to give a thumbs down before her head caught up with her and she grew cold. Slowly she gave the man a thumbs up horrified that she had forgotten.

Max, Neil, she was with them wasn’t she? They went roller skating together. They had fallen asleep in the car.

Panicking she raced back to the car. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten. She heard the man with the megaphone say something but she couldn’t hear him, her focus was solely on the car crash and figuring out what happened to her boyfriends. 

“Max! Neil!” Nikki called skidding to the car windows and looking inside, she instantly gave a startled shriek. Neil was impaled by the deer’s antlers. There was blood everywhere. Tear streamed down her face as she reached for her boyfriend. “N-Neil?” She called softly as if she was afraid of waking him up or causing him more harm. 

The whole notion was a bit laughable in a cruel and insensitive way for the whole of the deer’s rack was sticking into Neil’s chest. “Neil, oh no, Neil.” Nikki cried. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted nothing more than to gather Neil up and hold him, make the bleeding stop, heal his wounds, but Nikki knew better. She dared not touch him because what if, by some slim slim chance Neil was not yet dead. Maybe he could be saved. Maybe this nightmare didn’t have to be real.

“Oh Neil,” Nikki whimpered as she slowly touched his cheek, “I’m so sorry.”

As she pulled away from Neil to go check on Max she was relieved to hear groaning only to cry harder when she actually saw her other boyfriend. “Max!” She called horrified and Max’s head whipped up to stare at his girlfriend. 

“N-Nikki,” Max coughed looking relieved. He looked so very very relieved. As if he had never seen anything more beautiful than her staring horrified at his body that was pinned to the seat he was in by a tree branch that must have snapped off during their fall. It skewering him through the right shoulder and exited through his lower left hand torso area. The sight was unreal to Nikki. 

“Max, Oh my god.” Nikki cried out moving as if to touch the tree branch. 

“No. Don’t.” Max exclaimed holding his left hand out to her as a sign to stop moving. She complied instantly as he started to cough and Nikki was unsurprised yet horrified to see his saliva was coated in thick blood. “It’s going to be ok Nikki.” Max lied holding his out his good hand for her to hold. Which she did frantically scooting as close to her boyfriend as she dared without hurting him. 

“Don’t lie to me, please don’t, not right now.” Nikki cried squeezing Max’s hand. 

“Ok, I’m sorry my love.” Max complied as he smiled up at her softly. “Neil is he-?” 

Nikki shook her head and cried into their clasped hands. “I- I don’t- I think- No, I mean-”

“Nikki, Nikki, hey.” Max called softly looking as if he wanted nothing more than to better comfort her. “I won’t lie and say everything is going to be ok because it’s not, but hey you’re alive that’s a good thing.” Max tried to stress with a small smile. 

This only enraged Nikki. Max’s emotional and empathetic capacity never failed to surprise Nikki. Of course Max would fail to notice the miserable circumstance that living through this would be for her. Nikki wanted so badly to slap him. 

“How could you say that?” Nikki cried softly. This wiped the soft smile from Max’s face. 

“You’re alive Nikki. You can survive this you’re so strong, much stronger than me, you’ll be ok one day I’m sure.” Max said softly gripping her hand tightly.

Nikki just cried harder making Max panic a little at her flood of emotion. “You’re a fucking jackass Max.”

“I know,” Max said automatically.

“Imagine if you were me? What would you do if you were me?” Nikki yelled at her lover.

“Kill myself,” Max didn’t even hesitate enraging Nikki. 

“Exactly,” Nikki said coldly. “You wouldn’t even think twice would you.” Nikki seethed. “You would just up and do it one day wouldn’t you? Not giving a care in the world about how it might affect David, how it might affect me or Neil-”

“You and Neil are the only reasons that I haven’t offed myself already, let's not forget that.” Max said softly startling Nikki into silence. “Don’t get me wrong, I love David, he was the first person to give me a reason to live, but he’s no longer the only reason I stick around. And let’s face it David knows this too. David would be horrified if you or Neil died, never mind both, because he would know what would come next. Sure he might try to stop me, and for a while it might even work, but eventually when he’s too tired or when I’m too crafty I will have followed you two and there’s nothing anyone would have been able to do about it.” Max concluded looking at Nikki with so much love that Max’s suicide explanation almost sounded like a love letter. 

“But you’re not me Nikki.” Max continued looking at her as if trying to drive his message home using his eyes alone. “You’re stronger than me. More resourceful. More full of life. Yes, this is going to suck for a few years it will probably be horrible for you, you are probably going to wish you had my cowardness to embrace the eternal nothingness that is just forever beyond your grasp, and sure you will probably always hurt on some level and hopefully you will never forget us, but you will live through this. When you look back on this when you’re a 90 year old lady, sure you’ll remember the unbearable sadness and you will remember the two boys you fell in love with when you were a stupid teenager, but I have no doubt that you will be surrounded by new loved ones. Hell I hope you’re surrounded by a bunch a brats raising hell for you.” Max cried in happiness as if he could already see the picture he imagined for Nikki’s future. 

It wouldn’t surprise Nikki if Max never envisioned himself in her future, as he would be long gone having succumbed to his own demons along the way. Even if Nikki and Neil desperately tried to pull him along. The future Max was describing to her was depicted with too much love to be something he was coming up with on the spot, it sounded more like something he had hoped would be her and Neil’s future after he was long gone. The thought made her tear her eyes away from Max’s and cry. 

“Sh-Shut up.” Nikki gasped. “Shut up, you can’t die on me ok?” She gasped as she held his hand that she hadnen’t let go of this whole time tighter. “You’ve got to make it through this Max, you’ll be with me to raise those stupid brats because they're going to yours. Do you hear me you're going to-” Nikki paused when she looked back into Max’s eyes. 

Something wasn’t right. 

His eyes, they were, glassey. Nikki gasped before letting go of Max’s hand and grabbing his face gently. “No! No, Max! Don’t go! Max, please!” Nikki cried out hoping for a response but nothing was forthcoming from her lover. “No, no, please.”

Seconds later Nikki heard some rustling behind her. She whipped around to see who it was when she saw the flashlight. 

“Hey, little girl, you over here?” She heard called out. Standing swiftly she made her way over to the rescue team.

“Yes! Please Help!” She called out. “My boyfriends, they’re still in the car.” She said pointing to where the car was turned over. The men looked over at the wreck. 

“Okay, George, bring this young lady up to the emergency evac,” One of the rescuers said. “Young lady, how many did you say were in the car?” He said before the one they called George could grab her and pull her out of there.

“Two. The one in the front passenger seat is Neil, a deer has him impaled on its horns. The one in the back is Max, he’s still alive and a branch has him pinned.” Nikki said quickly trying to move back towards the car, but the one called George grabbed her by the upper arm.

“Ok, George tell Andy we are going to need two more ambulances and one more rescue down here. Now bring this young lady on up.” George nodded to his leader and tried to pull Nikki along but she put up resistance.

“No please I want to stay, please let me stay.” She cried trying to get back to Max.

“Hey little lady,” George soothed trying to get Nikki to calm down and follow him. “You don’t want to do that, you’ll just be in the way. The best thing you can do right now to help your friends is to let me get you to safety and let my friends here work. They’re professionals, they’ll do everything they can to make sure you all get home safely ok?” George said softly trying to make Nikki comfortable with him.

Nikki had nothing to say to that and let herself be led away. She stared at the wreck for as long as she could before the forest that surrounded them obscured her view, she knew that was the last time she was going to see her friends outside of a coffin and she couldn’t help but silently cry in dismay.


	3. Neil: It’s Best to Pull Over and Wait in Unsafe Conditions.

Neil never drove in a hurricane before, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the weather he was driving through right now wasn’t at least somewhat similar. The sheets of rain coming down from what he can only assume is a cumulonimbus cloud due to the intensity made it almost impossible to see. It didn’t help that his good for nothing partners were making things even more unbearable.

“Common Neil. It was on the History Channel so it must be true.” Nikki laughed from the back passenger seat, finishing up a frankly erroneous story that she hear from the bane of Neil’s existence, Ancient Aliens. 

“Yeah, Neil.” Max joined in from the seat next to him. “How else could the pyramids have been built if not with the help of alien technology?” 

Neil honestly didn’t know which one was worse, Nikki or Max. They both watched the show regularly specifically for the purpose for pissing Neil off. It was one of the date nights that they did with each other exclusively, seeing as Neil adamantly refused to watch a second of a show so blatantly intellectually dishonest.

“Max, Nikki, I swear if one more fallacious word comes out of either of your whore mouths about fucking Ancient Aliens, or any other History Channel show that isn't actual fucking history, I swear I will turn this car around and you two can watch Genius with me when we get back to my place.” Neil growled out from behind the steering wheel that he had a death grip on. Seriously it’s not like they were in a dangerous enough situation, they really had to be having this conversation right now? If looks could kill the road in front of them would be engulfed with flames not wet slippery water.

Max continued to laugh with a mock look of horror, “Oh no please don't Neil. That level of torture should only be saved for the worse possible crimes. Besides, you know, they say Einstein was an alien. There’s no other way he could have been as smart as he was if he not.” Max cried out in a fit of giggles.

“Yeah Neil, Aliens are real you just need to open your mind!” Nikki laughed as she made the exploding motion around her head with her hands. “Besides, be glad we aren't talking about the Flat Earth theory, I’m reading up.” Nikki explained with a sly smile. “Did you know they say that plateaus don't really exist and that really everything that looks like a plateau is actually giant trees that have fallen over and whose stump’s been prettified into rock?” 

“Nikki!” Neil barked. “Stop it! You're distracting me with your nonsense. We could easily get in a car accident right now. It’s dark, it’s raining, it’s what like 9:30, and Max you're not even wearing a seat belt.” 

“It chafes my neck, so sue me.” Max grumbled good naturedly.

“I swear one of these days I won't even start the car until you do.” Neil complained to his boyfriend. 

“No you wouldn't,” Nikki snickered who did in fact have her seat belt on. Neil was grateful he at least had one lover who cared if they lived or died. “Max would never put it on and I actually wanna go places so you can't have that battle of wills,” Nikki continued. “Besides my money is on Max, it's very likely he would just get out of the car and walk. He’s very stubborn like that.” Nikki stage whispered to Neil as if he didn't already know how thick headed their boyfriend could be.

Max just shrugged in agreement. Nikki was of course right.

“That’s besides the point,” Neil huffed while thinking he should change topics. “Where the hell are we Nikki?” he ended up sighing in frustration. 

“Yeah, I thought you said this was a shortcut to the bowling alley. It feels like we’ve been in the car forever.” Max grumbled looking out the windows. Not that he could see anything, the rain made it almost impossible and they were in some wooded area that Max was certain he’s never seen before.

Nikki looked around and started making a humming noise.

“Nikki~! I swear we better not be lost.” Neil freaked out a bit when she didn't give them a fast enough answer. 

“Well… how mad will you be exactly when I say we might have passed the turn I wanted you to make?” Nikki asked with a nervous giggle. 

“Arg god, Nikki! Seriously? We’re lost?” Max exclaimed turning in his seat to look at his girlfriend. “This was your shitty shortcut, you were supposed to be paying attention.” He growled.

“Hey, it’s not my fault. Do you see the rain out there, it’s a miracle we’ve made it this far.” She exclaimed smiling at Max’s enraged face and trying to defend herself. “Besides we all have phones, we can GPS it.” She insisted as she whipped hers out and quickly went to try and find out where they were. “Uh-oh.”

“No. No, uh-ohs.” Neil panicked. “Why did she say uh-oh Max?”

Max rolled his eyes at his boyfriend's question. “Why did you say uh-oh, Nikki?” Max asked levely.

Nikki gave a nervous giggle, “I may or may not have service.” She said as she held up her phone for Max to look at. 

Seeing that she did, in fact, not have any service Max pulled out his own phone. He noticed he had one message from David, but he didn't have any service either. 

“Huh that's weird,” Max said as he checked the message, it could be important.

‘Love you Max. Hope you have fun, and stay safe! <3’ - David

Or not so important. Max laughed slightly and sent out; ‘Shut up David, stop fishing for affection. <3’ - Max

David wouldn't get the message until later when Max got service back, but whatever it was sent and David would get it eventually.

“What’s weird, why are you laughing?” Neil demanded freaking out a bit now that he had no idea what was going on.

“Calm down dipshit,” Max said as soothingly as he could. “It was just David, but yeah I don't have service either.” 

Nikki had grabbed Neil’s phone from the front cup holder where he usually kept it while in the car to check while Max had been texting David. “Yeah you neither Neil.” She explained as she put the phone back.

“What should we do? Should I turn back?” Neil asked nervously.

“Nah, just keep going, the turn should be up ahead.” Nikki answered with conviction. 

“I thought you said you didn't know where we were and that we passed the crossroad we were supposed to take.” Max commented making Nikki shrug. 

“Well I’m 90% sure we haven't passed the road yet, now. I feel like I recognized some of these trees, I just don't know where exactly we are.” She answered searching out her window to see if she could see anything else that looked familiar beyond the rain. 

“Uh-huh. I don't know Neil, do whatever you want.” Max shrugged as he sat back in his seat relaxing.

This made Neil panic a bit as he thought over their situation. “Ok well, Nikki you say you think the turn might be up ahead?” Neil questioned strategically.

“Uhh, yes?” Nikki answered unconvincingly. Neil tried to ignore his girlfriend’s uncertainty.

“Ok well, we’ll drive this way for another half hour, if we don’t find it we’ll turn around and call it a day. If we do find it we can continue to make our way to the bowling alley. Sound like a plan?” Max just shrugged, but Nikki gave him an affirmative and continued to stare out the windows attentively. “Max could you keep an eye on the phones?” Neil continued, “If service comes back we can get a better idea of where we are.” 

Max just grabbed Neil’s phone and turned it on once more as a response. “Still a nope.” He proclaimed.

“Thank you for your dedication Max,” Neil laughed.

“Glad to be of service, Neil.” Max smirked back.

The car elapsed into quiet. With Neil trying not to kill them all in the torrential rainfall around them, Nikki trying desperately to see this “short-cut” she had them on a wild goose chase for, and Max occasionally checking the phones to see if they had service. It was no great surprise that Nikki was the first to get antsy.

“Neil~, Max~,” Nikki whined from the back seat. “I’m bored~.”

Max couldn’t help but laugh. “Who’s fault is that Nikki?” Max asked in mock wonder. “Maybe the person who insisted we take the back road to the bowling alley in the first place?” 

“Fuck you Max,” Nikkie grumbled. “It’s not my fault it’s raining cats and dogs out there.”

“Yeah, well still- Oh, hey Neil we’ve got service.” Max proclaimed holding up the phone and smiling. 

Latter Neil would have sworn that he only took his eyes of the road for half a second, but apparently that’s all that was needed for everything to go horrendously wrong. There were no turn signs, no slow speed limit signs, no lines even on the road. But there was a disadvantageous puddle and a 90 degree turn up ahead that Neil didn’t see as he traveled 45 mph. 

“Neil!” Was all he heard from his two lovers before they hit a tree. 

...

When Neil next woke up he felt numb. Everything was stiff. He had no idea what he had done last night with Nikki and Max, but whatever it was he was never doing it again. As he slowly came to he noticed he had a splitting headache, his leg hurt like a bitch, and for some reason he felt wet like he had jumped in the lake with all his cloths on. 

“Ugh, what the hell hit me?” Neil groggily asked as he started looking around. He found it was kind of odd that he seemed to be sitting up. Then that it was odd there seemed to be something poking him in the arm. Then that there seemed to be broken glass and metal covered in water strewn about him. 

“Ugh, what the hell?” Neil groaned as he brought one of his hands to grab his head which was pounding loudly. What was going on? Why was everything so fuzzy? Why was he wet? What happened last night? Why couldn’t Neil seem to move his right arm? 

Looking over to his right Neil was confused as to what he saw. It didn’t look like there was anything even remotely recognizable there. His arm seemed to be caught in some sort of weird plastic, metal, and glass death trap. It was all red and nothing seemed to make sense.

Slowly things started catching up to him and he let out a terrified whail. The sound that came out of him would have scared him as it sounded like some sort of tortured animal if he didn’t recognize it as coming out of his own mouth. As his brain started catching up with him Neil started to understandably freak out. 

Trying to pull his arm from the torture device that his car had turned into was a fruitless effort. Something was piercing him through his upper arm, there was no way he was getting out of this without some sort of help. So he started yelling for it. 

“Help! Help! Someone, Anyone, Help me!” Neil chanted in the terrified wail that seemed to have overcome all control that he had over his body. “Someone please! If anyone’s out there! Please Help!” 

Neil doesn’t know how long he was calling for help but none seemed forthcoming. Soon Neil tired himself out and he just started crying. What was he possibly going to do. What were Max and Nikki going to say when they never see him again.

With a start Neil looked around. Fuck. Nikki, Max, they were with him weren’t they? What happened-

Neil’s entire world stopped when he looked at the passenger seat. Granted it might be more apt to say the space in which there used to be a passenger seat. The whole seat seemed to have been pushed back a whole foot at least. Neil had no idea what to think about that until he noticed Max wasn’t in it. Relief washed through him as he figured that maybe his lovers weren’t with him for just a moment before realization brought the most chilling horror to wash through him. 

There was a hole through the windshield. 

Neil didn’t want to look, he knew if he did what he could possibly see would break him. Yet, he did anyways. He deserved what ever devastation was about to happen. 

Looking ahead Neil saw the broken body of his boyfriend a few feet in front of the car. He was crumpled in a heap not moving, not breathing, not doing anything and all around him was dark blackness that Neil couldn’t tell if it was from the rain that seemed to have stopped or if it was the boy's blood. 

Even though he didn’t want to his brain unhelpfully placed the elements together and helped him understand what exactly had happened. Nikki told him they were lost, the rain made the road slippery, he had no idea where he was, he didn’t know there was going to be a turn up ahead, he hydroplaned, and he drove them straight into a tree going at least 45 mph. At that point Max must have flown out of the car upon impact slamming into a different tree in front of them hopefully killing him instantly Neil would never want his lover to suffer, and the impact also smashed the front seat back squishing Nikki, probably. Neil was not going to look back. He couldn’t. Both Nikki and Max just couldn’t be dead.

“Nikki? I can't move my right arm.” Neil called trying to disillusion himself into thinking his girlfriend might still be alive. His eyes trained on Max’s unmoving body before him. “Nikki, please, if you can hear me we have to check on Max. He’s right there Nikki he can be really hurt.” Neil said trying to stay calm but failing miserably tears were streaming down his face.

“Nikki, please answer me.” Neil begged. “Oh god Nikki, he’s probably dead.” Neil gasped in realized horror. “Oh god, oh shit! What have I done. Nikki please help, what should I do?” Neil cried out hoping beyond hope that Nikki was ok and she would walk out of this with him.

“What are we going to tell David Nikki!” Neil cried out. “Fucking shit Nikki this is going to break his heart, it feels like he just got Max and that Max was just starting to do better.” Neil wailed. “What kind of sick fucking joke is this? Nikki!” Neil hollered as he placed his face into his free hand. 

“Fuck! We get him out of that fucking hell hole of a house just so I can fucking kill him!” Neil screamed. The injustice of it all had him seeing red. 

“Arrhhhggg!” Neil screamed enraged at the whole situation as he tried to pull his right arm once more to free himself. There was no such luck only succeeding in hurting himself. “Fuck! Nikki answer me! Damn it Nikki, say something! Max needs us, please! Please!” Neil raged, but stopped after a final scream. “.... Don’t be dead.” Quietly Neil started sobbing again.

“Please don’t be dead Nikki.” Neil finally understood what it meant to have your feeling be like a rollercoaster. One moment you’re confused, the next in turmoil, after sadness, then despair, anger, and now utter sorrow. 

There was no reversing this, there was no fixing this, there was no way this was going to get better. Neil was a murderer. He killed his entire world. He did the unthinkable. 

Neil now got what Max meant when he said the eternal void looked appealing. To imagine himself living through this kind of hell, to think that his life could go on while the ones he lived for ended, here and now. Neil could understand why one would rather choose nothingness over this. Shaking his head Neil tried to think clearly once more. Neil wasn’t Max, he has never been suicidal, he couldn’t do it. No matter how appealing it seemed in the moment he had to survive, he had to get help. 

Looking around Neil searched for his phone, or any phone for that matter. His was usually in the center console so hopefully - there it was, sitting innocently near his right hip.

Reaching with his left arm Neil was glad to see it was working, he was doubly happy to see that it had service. As Neil was about to start dialing he heard a noise. It was a stupid jingle that he hadn’t heard in years. 

_“Ohh~ There’s a place I know that’s tucked away. A place where you and I can stay. Where we can go to laugh and play, and have adventures everyday.~”_

Neil couldn’t help laughing in dismay. David. That was Max’s ringtone for David. Max never let it get past the first note so the whole thing wasn’t heard often.

_“It’s Camp Camp~”_

Neil will never understand what got into him. He’ll never understand why he would do something so stupid as to not call 911 first, but he didn’t.

“Neil? I just called Max. Are you guys ok? It’s getting pretty late I just wanted to know if plans have changed and maybe he’s sleeping over one of your guy’s places.” David’s ever chipper voice answered. Neil just let out a broken sob, this was such a huge mistake. What possessed him to do this. 

“Neil?” David’s voice was on alert now, Neil could just imagine him sitting up straighter and pressing the phone closer to his ear so as to catch every sound. “Neil? Is everything ok?”

“I-I’m so sorry.” Neil croaked not knowing what else to say. “I’m so sorry, David.” He said full out sobbing. “I didn’t mean to I was just- The rain was- I didn’t think that- Oh god David, I’m so sorry.”

Neil heard movement on David’s side of the phone. “Neil, it’s going to be ok. Tell me where you are.” David said in a measured voice.

Neil just couldn’t do it. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to- We were- The puddle- We were lost I didn’t-” He just cried clutching the phone to his ear.

“Neil, please tell me where you are.” David implored again a little more force behind his voice. Hiccuping Neil tried to answer best he could. 

“I don’t- I don’t know.” Neil got out in gasps. “We were supposed to cut through Cheshire Road to get to the bowling alley, but we must have missed a turn. I don’t know what happened we got lost.” 

“I’m on my way ok Neil? Drop me a pin if you can.” David stated, Neil heard a car starting and it sent shivers down his spine. “Neil I need you to hang up now and call 911. Do you think you can do that buddy? You can call me right after, but you need to call 911 now please.” 

Neil nodded his head before he remembered David couldn’t see him. “Ok,” Neil whimpered. “I’m so sorry David.” Neil said softly once more.

“I know buddy, everything is going to be alright, ok? Just call 911 now please.” David said, sounding a bit more on edge than he probably meant to give off.

“Ok,” Neil said once more as he hung up while sending him a quick pin.

Dialing again Neil soon got a dispatcher. “911, what’s your emergency?”

Neil doesn’t fully remember what was said between him and the dispatcher, he did remember that after he hung up he forgot to call David back. David found them anyways, he found them before the police or the ambulance did. Which made Neil wonder how fast David must have drove to get here, as Max lived quite a ways away. One would have assumed the police would have shown up first. 

“Neil?” He heard David approach before he saw him, he sounded broken almost. Like he was just barely holding himself together and trying to be strong for the kids. 

“David.” Neil answered not really moving much beyond that. He heard a gasp and what sounded like someone moving through some underbrush. Was that why the police couldn’t find them, were they hidden from the road? Eventually David showed up at Neil’s window, he had a flashlight which blinded Neil. 

“Oh shit, Neil.” David swore, it must be bad. He looked at David and noticed he looked like he had been crying, and was probably about to again. “Oh no Neil.” Looking back from where he came David grimaced. “Hopefully they’ll be smart enough to investigate my car.” David said matter of factly.

That answered that question, the police probably just didn’t figure that they were off road. David brought the flashlight back to the car and looked in past Neil. Neil saw the growing horror on David’s face. Neil couldn’t watch him.

“He’s over there.” Neil said using his good arm to point towards where Max landed. The flashlight paused from a moment before whiplashing to where he was pointing. David gave a small wail and Neil didn’t blame him. 

It was dark before David brought the flashlight so it was hard to see, but where Max laid there was nothing but a sea of red. It looked like he must have blegened himself on the tree he was lying in front of cause it was covered in blood while the ground soaked up the blood like a sponge. Neil thought he was going to be sick. 

Soon David had left Neil’s side and had made his way over to Max.

“Max? Max!” David cried out. There was no doubt in Neil’s mind he was sobbing uncontrollably. He looked like he wanted to gather Max into his arms, but hesitated in doing so. Before it seemed like David could make up his mind light flooded the area.

“Hey! Is anyone down there!” Neil heard from behind him. 

“Yes!” David whipped around waving his arms. “Please, over here! My son and his friends, they’re really hurt!” David cried out. Neil heard the officer call it in. David turned his attention back to Max.

David didn’t even hesitate this time. He scooped Max up and held him close. Neil didn’t blame him. David wasn’t an idiot, as much as Max like to call him that, he knew you should never move a body when it has been under trauma, any movement done by a non professional could do irreversible damage. It’s best to leave a body in the position it was found until the paramedics could get to them. 

That being said, again David wasn’t an idiot. Max was dead. Yeah they might want to deny it and maybe there was a slim chance of survival, but Max would be infuriated if they made him live with brain damage, and there was no doubting that best case scenario that’s all that would be wrong. So yeah, maybe by some miracle they could have saved Max, but it was unlikely and unless it was anything less than 100% chance of recovery Max wouldn’t be truly grateful. So David gathered him up and cried over him as it was probably the only point in time he would actually be able to do it. Neil didn’t blame him. 

Neil just wished it hadn’t come to that.


	4. Check Yourself to Make Sure You’re Alive

Neil gasped and shot up from his bed.

The dream he just had was horrifying. 

The crash, the blood, the pain. It was all just so real. He could almost still hear the rain pattering outside and smell the wet dirt covered in a layer of red blood. The images of dead lovers lingered behind his eyes.

Neil grabbed his head trying to even his breathing. What kind of fucked up dream did he even have?

Neil felt a small touch to his arm and he whipped around to stare at what had bothered him only to meet eyes with Nikki. She was a mess. Her hair was mussed up and tear tracks ran from her eyes. 

“Nikki,” Neil couldn't help but gasp lightly as he held up his hand to her face, trying to stave off her tears. “What happened my love?” 

Nikki laughed humorlessly, “Same that happened to you, I suppose.” She answered with a small grin, reaching up herself to wipe at Neil’s face, “Nightmare.”

Neil sighed, “Yeah. Do you wanna talk about it?” Neil inquired softly. Slowly he moved his hand from the side of her face to lightly run his fingers through her hair. Nikki laughed a tad maniacally and flung her arms around Neil. 

“You died,” she whispered harshly, the warble in her voice giving away the totality of her grief. “There was a car crash, a deer hit us and we went over a cliff. I watched Max die. He died as I held his hand.” Nikki gasped as she cried harshly into Neil’s neck.

Neil tightened his hold on Nikki as she cried out on his shoulder. The dream she described was eerily similar to the one he had. Car crash. Max dieing. It was horrible to reflect on. Squeezing his eyes closed Neil tried to grasp the fleeting images of his dream. 

“It was raining,” He started. “We were lost on the road, we hit a tree, I couldn’t see you and Max flew out the window.” He gasped holding back tears. “It was horrible Nikki, David showed up. It was just horrible.”

Neil felt his girlfriend hold him tighter in response as they both held each other close. Neil was comforted by Niki’s support, it would have been torture to wake up alone after such a dream. Thankfully it is/was Saturday so Neil and Nikki had slept over Max and David’s place after they had hung out the whole day. To wake next to his partners was always such a comfort, especially after having a nightmare. 

Speaking of Max, Neil looked over Nikki’s shoulder to the spot on the bed Max would usually have been resting. Only there was no Max. There was just an empty cold side of the bed where his lover should have been.

Flashes of red blood and broken glass filled Neil’s mind. Was it true? Nikki said Max died in her dream too. Was he… Did… No that’s-

“Neil?” Nikki questioned as she noticed he had stiffened in her arms. “What’s wrong?”

Neil looked at her and then back to the spot on the bed. “Max, where’s Max?” he stammered motioning to the spot with his head.

Nikki looked over her shoulder and froze as well. She had similar memories from her own dream flashing before her eyes and similar fears. “No, he-” she started as she quickly jumped out of bed.

“Max! Max!” Nikki yelled as she all but ran out of her room, unafraid of waking David as he’s been proved to be a pretty solid sleeper. Neil quickly followed after her hoping that their boyfriend just had insomnia again last night and went to hang out in the living room like he usually would. 

Only he wasn’t there either. When Neil saw that he started to freak out a bit more. “Max! Where are you?!” Neil called out, fear evident in his voice. 

Nikki was searching room after room in the house. She almost went to check the basement when they heard, “Outside!” It was Max. 

Quickly Nikki and Neil made their way to the front porch of the house. He was sitting on the deck swing, one leg raised lazily on the porch banister slowly swinging himself back and forth. He looking relaxed and collected. Nikki and Neil stared at him for a moment as if they couldn’t believe their eyes. “What?” Max asked when he noticed his lovers looked like fish out of water. “What’s wong?”

Nikki was the first to act as she flung herself at Max. “I thought you had died!” She cried as she clutched at her boyfriend in desperation. Max looked relatively perturbed before he wrapped his arms around her frame and gave her shoulder an awkward pat, something he was prone to do when he didn’t know what else he was supposed to do when his lovers got overly emotional. 

“Well, surprise?” Max exclaimed in a heartfelt voice. “I’m fine?” Nikki gave him light punch in the arm which made him exclaim a small “Ow.”

“You're getting soft like David,” Nikki joked tearily. 

“Take that back,” Max snapped without any heat.

“Seriously though,” Nikki continued as she buried her face in his chest. “I thought you were dead, I had a dream where you died. You and Neil. It was terrifying. Especially when you weren’t right there. I thought for sure you-”

“Hush,” Max consoled her as he rubbed her arms up and down in a soothing motion. “It’s ok now, I’m fine.”

“It was still scary though.” Max jumped slightly. Neil had made his way over from the door to his other side and wrapped his own spindly arms around Max and Nikki, Max hadn’t noticed.

“Um, what? You have traumatic dreams of me dying too?” Max asked amused with a small smile.

“Yes.” Neil croaked simply. Max felt his shoulder where Neil’s head rested get wet. Well didn’t he feel like the world’s greatest asshole.

“Sorry,” Max replied as he gripped Nikki tighter.

They sat like that for a while. Just holding each other as they gave each other comfort, listening to the crickets chirp in the background. 

Eventually Max quietly asked, “Do you guys wanna talk about it?”

Nikki shook her head slightly but replied, “Car crash, you both died, it was terrible. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Same.” Neil agreed.

Max looked up at Neil questioningly. “Same?” He asked.

“Yeah, car crash, you both died. I don’t really wanna talk about it.” He answered simply. Max looked perplexed.

“Weird.” He said simply furrowing his brow. He continued, “Me too. Car crash, I had a green light and some drunk driver had a red. Hit me passenger side and killed you two. It was pretty terrible.”

Nikki gripped Max tighter as did Neil. While Neil tried to bury his head further into his boyfriend’s neck, Nikki on the other hand looked up at Max perplexed.

“Wait,” she stared at him questioningly, “You had a nightmare about a car crash too?” Her eyes got wide with what Max could only describe as fear. 

“Umm, yes?” Max answered slowly, not understanding what made his girlfriend look so fearful.

“Oh my God,” Nikki exclaimed as she stood looking frantic. “Do you know what this means!” 

Max gave a small shake of his head and Neil lifted his head to see what had gotten Nikki so worked up.

“We just had a premonition!” Nikki announced visibly shaken. “We can’t drive, none of us, or at least not together we can’t.”

“What?” Neil asked skeptically. “Nikki, it was just a nightmare.”

“No!” Nikki barked obviously angered by Neil’s comment. “Isn’t it just a bit coincidental that we all had the same dream, on the same night? Don’t you think that’s weird at all Neil?” She expounded obviously not thrilled about a revelation she was having.

Max and Neil knew Nikki was easily swayed by things that claimed to be supernatural. Magic, psychics, ghosts, and vampires; she was easily swayed into believing that these things existed and it was a constant push and pull they had to have with her. Max explained to her multiple times how Tarot Cards were ‘read’ and what was involved in crystal ball ‘reading’, having learned a few tricks from his grandmother before she died. Neil also explained to her multiple times how Magic wasn’t real and how it was scientifically impossible for bigfoot to actually exist. None of that really mattered to Nikki though. She still believed and this crazy coincidence definitely wasn’t going to strengthen their case that the supernatural just wasn’t real.

Neil just gave a groan as he hid his face back into Max’s shoulder not able to deal with Nikki’s antics at the moment. While Max held open his arms for her, “Come here Nikki, everything is going to be ok.” Max said in one of his most comforting voices he could manage. “I swear we aren’t going to get into any car crashes anytime soon. Relax, love.”

“You believe me, right Max?” Nikki asked as she climbed into Max’s arms once more.

“Sure Nikki,” Max conceded as he kissed her hair. Right now wasn’t the time to argue about how silly it was to believe that they were actually all going to get in a car crash the next time they got in a car together. 

They sat like that, basking in each others presence, just overall happy to be holding one another, alive and without fear. Eventually Nikki let off a small yawn almost instantly followed by Neil. Max chuckled lightly at his lovers. 

“You two should go back inside, finish up on your beauty rest. God knows you two need it.” Max jabbed playfully at his sleepy friends. 

Nikki let off another yawn, “Only if you come with us.” She said defiantly and tightened her grip around Max. Neil just yawned in agreement. 

“Okay, Okay,” Max agreed with them amicably. Slowly they all got up from their bench and started to make their way to Max’s room. Only to notice David pop his head out of his own bedroom door. 

“Oh!” David exclaimed. “Are you guys alright? I heard some commotion and just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.” 

Max just rolled his eyes as he led his lovers back to his room. “We’re fine David, just some bad dreams. We’re over it now, go back to bed.”

“Well if you’re sure, goodnight. Love you Max.” David yawned as he closed his door.

“Yeah and yeah.” Max said back as he closed his own door. 

They were fine. They were all fine. It was just bad dreams.

-End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I feel like it's lazy writing to make these all a dream sequence but I just couldn't not.   
> Sorry for such a long wait, this should have been out ages ago, I just couldn't write it down right. I have like a million drafts of this chapter and then I gave up. (For almost a year) Then I re-read this whole story and this is what I came up with.  
> Eh, I like it. I hope you guys do too.


End file.
